18 January 2005
Bruce Jackson
Buying Buffalo's mayorAccording to a January 16 page-one story by Buffalo News local politics reporter Robert J. McCarthy, Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello will run for a fourth term unless someone in the local business community finds him a job he can handle that will permit him to maintain his present lifestyle. (“Friends of mayor eye job placement. Exit plan weighed if he opts not to run.”) The article suggests that if whatever job found for Masiello doesn't pay enough, there are legal ways for him to channel some of his million-dollar-campaign fund into a foundation which will give his wife a supplemental salary.
Everybody knows that politicians leave their public jobs for well-paying jobs in the private sector that either reward them for services rendered or let them put connections they made during their years of public service at the disposal of a business in need of such connections Everybody knows that sometimes such deals involve sweetheart jobs for spouses, lovers, children or other friends and relatives.
But this is the first time I remember seeing the outline of the deal spelled out on page one of a newspaper before the deal has been cut, indeed, while the area's primary business organization—the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership—has been working very hard to find a mayoral candidate they can safely bankroll so they can get rid of the incumbent.It is difficult to tell if McCarthy's article is describing a situation that exists or if it is the Buffalo business community using the Buffalo News as its mouthpiece to pressure Masiello into accepting an offer they hope he won’t refuse. With one peripheral exception, McCarthy’s story is based entirely on unattributed sources, so there is no way to know if he is reporting a story or making one. Is he telling you something you ought to know or telling Tony Masiello what the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership wants him to hear?
Tony Masiello is in a difficult position. People like him as a person, but hardly anyone outside his immediate circle of political associates thinks he is up to dealing with Buffalo’s fiscal and political problems. Those problems may be so recalcitrant that nobody can deal with them, which is what has led to all the recent talk about consolidating Buffalo and Erie County governments even though Joel Giambra's Erie County government is a mess too.Masiello’s key problem, other than having a city he can't run, is lack of job skills. Politics has been his whole life. After less than two years in pro-basketball after college, he was on the Buffalo Common Council from 1971 through 1980, in the New York State Senate through the end of 1993, and mayor of Buffalo ever since. Running for and occupying office are the only things he knows how to do.
Which is why the businessmen who are willing to do almost anything to get him out of city hall, and who, according to McCarthy, “asked not to be identified, said they are exploring the possibility of paid positions on corporate boards, the lobbying industry, or in government, as a way of helping Masiello leave City Hall gracefully while continuing to participate in community affairs. ‘There are conversations with Masiello with regard to an ‘out' plan,’ said one businessman familiar with the effort. ‘It's about how his life can go forward so he can be financially secure and at the same time give him stature. He is responding thoughtfully,’ the businessman added.”
Translate that into English and this businessman seems to be saying, “If we find a way to pay him off, he’ll go; otherwise he’ll run again.”Masiello has amassed a huge campaign warchest—over $1 million at last report and he’s got a $500-a-plate fundraiser scheduled for early February. The Buffalo business community wants him to spend that money on anything but a campaign. He’s got two younger contenders who have been fairly panting for his job—Assemblyman Sam Hoyt and State Senator Byron Brown—and are doing everything they can short of putting up campaign billboards letting people know how much they want it. And there are several less visible candidates lurking in the wings.
None of them seems to know quite what to do if Masiello decides he will run again, however. Hoyt has said in the past he wouldn’t run against Masiello, but he might sense an animal in weak enough condition this time that he’d take the chance. Brown’s candidacy may hinge on whether or not his very careful policy of avoiding controversial issues in Albany the past two years has endeared him enough to the Partnership so they’ll back him whatever Masiello chooses to do. The Partnership spent much of the year casting about for a successful businessman to run, but they couldn't talk anybody into it.
If Masiello ran, could he win? The smart money says no, but the outcome depends who runs against him. Buffalo has a history of opposition candidates chewing one another up, leaving a less popular incumbent in office when the campaign is over. Sam Hoyt has good support in his district, but he’s never been tested out of it. Some people say Byron Brown is the current darling of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, which spends a lot of money trying to influence local elections. What happens if Brown and Hoyt go head to head? Does Masiello sit on the sidelines, let them wear each other out, and walk back into city hall after they’ve exhausted themselves and their campaign chests fighting each other?Right now, nobody knows, which may be why the Buffalo News published McCarthy's page-one article that seemed directed more to Tony Masiello than any other reader of the paper.
Copyright 2004 by Buffalo Report, Inc.